LPO programme: 27 Jan 2024 - Beethoven's Seventh (Anja Bihlmaier/Martin James Bartlett) by London Philharmonic Orchestra

2023/24 concert season at the Southbank Centre

Free concert programme

Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG Artistic Director Elena Dubinets Chief Executive David Burke Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Saturday 27 January 2024 | 7.30pm

Beethoven’s Seventh Wagner Overture, The Flying Dutchman (11’) Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20, K466 (28’) Interval (20’) Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (36’)

Anja Bihlmaier conductor Martin James Bartlett piano

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. Concert presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Contents 2

Welcome LPO news 3 On stage tonight 4 London Philharmonic Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Anja Bihlmaier 7 Martin James Bartlett 8 Programme notes 11 Recommended recordings 12 Next concerts 13 Sound Futures donors 14 Thank you 16 LPO administration

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Welcome

LPO news

Welcome to the Southbank Centre

Foyle Future Firsts and the Royal Academy of Music: Sat 3 Feb

We’re the largest arts centre in the UK and one of the nation’s top visitor attractions, showcasing the world’s most exciting artists at our venues in the heart of London. We’re here to present great cultural experiences that bring people together, and open up the arts to everyone.

Next Saturday (3 February), before the main evening concert we will welcome our talented LPO Foyle Future Firsts to the Royal Festival Hall stage at 6pm. They will give a free pre-concert performance alongside LPO musicians and students from the Royal Academy of Music, conducted by Edward Gardner. The programme features music inspired by trees, including Ácana by our Composer-in-Residence, Tania León, as well as Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Tippett’s Little Music for String Orchestra and Mabel Daniels’s Deep Forest. Please do come along!

The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library and Arts Council Collection. We’re one of London’s favourite meeting spots, with lots of free events and places to relax, eat and shop next to the Thames.

Participants on the LPO’s annual Foyle Future Firsts programme are early-career instrumentalists who aspire to become professional orchestral musicians. Across the year Future Firsts benefit from individual mentoring from London Philharmonic Orchestra Principals, mock auditions, involvement in full orchestral rehearsals and Education & Community projects, and wider professional development sessions. Members of the scheme are supported and nurtured to the highest standards and we are proud to see current and past Foyle Future Firsts consistently taking professional engagements with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and other world-class ensembles.

We hope you enjoy your visit. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. You can also write to us at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk Subscribers to our email updates are the first to hear about new events, offers and competitions. Just head to our website to sign up.

Drinks

lpo.org.uk/fff

You are welcome to bring drinks from the venue’s bars and cafés into the Royal Festival Hall to enjoy during tonight’s concert. Please be considerate to fellow audience members by keeping noise during the concert to a minimum, and please take your glasses with you for recycling afterwards. Thank you.

The Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation with additional support from the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust, the Idlewild Trust and the Golsoncott Foundation.

Tune In: new issue out now Hot off the press is the Spring 2024 edition of our twice-yearly LPO magazine, Tune In.

Enjoyed tonight’s concert? Help us to share the wonder of the LPO by making a donation today. Use the QR code to donate via the LPO website, or visit lpo.org.uk/donate. Thank you.

Scan the QR code or visit issuu.com/londonphilharmonic to read it online, or call 020 7840 4200 to request a copy in the post.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

On stage tonight First Violins

Cellos

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Pieter Schoeman* Leader

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Kate Oswin Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Lasma Taimina

Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave

Minn Majoe Martin Höhmann Cassandra Hamilton Katalin Varnagy

Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Yang Zhang Nilufar Alimaksumova Amanda Smith Alison Strange Thomas Eisner Daniel Pukach

Second Violins

Kristina Blaumane Principal Henry Shapard Francis Bucknall David Lale Helen Thomas Sibylle Hentschel Leo Melvin Auriol Evans

Paul Beniston* Principal Tom Nielsen Co-Principal Anne McAneney*

Double Basses

Kevin Rundell* Principal Sebastian Pennar Co-Principal Hugh Kluger George Peniston Tom Walley

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Lowri Estell

Nynke Hijlkema Fiona Higham

Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday

Nancy Elan Kate Birchall Sioni Williams

Cor Anglais

Violas

Clarinets

Da Kyung Kwak Guest Principal Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Lucia Ortiz Sauco Martin Wray James Heron Toby Warr Kate de Campos Daniel Cornford Jisu Song

Trombones

Mark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal

Flutes

Juliette Bausor Principal Clare Childs

Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

John Ryan* Principal Annemarie Federle Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison

Trumpets

Tania Mazzetti Principal Molly Cockburn Emma Oldfield Co-Principal Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Joseph Maher Claudia Tarrant-Matthews

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Horns

Piccolo

Tuba

Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Timpani

Anna Rogers

Simon Carrington* Principal

Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE

Oboes

Sue Böhling* Principal

Harp

Rachel Masters Principal *Professor at a London conservatoire

Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Benjamin Mellefont* Principal Thomas Watmough Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Bassoons

Jonathan Davies* Principal

Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey

Simon Estell*

The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Gill & Garf Collins Mr B C Fairhall Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Our conductors

Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. With every performance we aim to bring wonder to the modern world and cement our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.

Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, taking the Orchestra into its tenth decade. Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his impact as Principal Conductor from 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor and Tania León our Composer-in-Residence.

Our home is here at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour throughout the UK and internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. Each summer we’re resident at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.

Soundtrack to key moments Everyone will have heard the London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems at every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings.

Sharing the wonder You’ll find us online, on streaming platforms, on social media and through our broadcast partnership with Marquee TV. During the pandemic period we launched ‘LPOnline’: over 100 videos of performances, insights and introductions to playlists, which led to us being named runner-up in the Digital Classical Music Awards 2020. During 2023/24 we’re once again be working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts, so you can share or relive the wonder from your own living room.

We also release live, studio and archive recordings on our own label, and are the world’s most-streamed orchestra, with over 15 million plays of our content each month.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Pieter Schoeman Leader

There’s nothing we love more than seeing the joy of children and families enjoying their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about equipping schools and teachers through schools’ concerts, resources and training. Reflecting our values of collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Our LPO Junior Artists programme is leading the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers. We also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession.

Next generations

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. He is also a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.

Looking forward

Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Veronika Eberle, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Boris Garlitsky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Martin Helmchen and Julia Fischer.

The centrepiece of our 2023/24 season is our spring 2024 festival The Music in You. Reflecting our adventurous spirit, the festival embraces all kinds of expression – dance, music theatre, and audience participation. We’ll collaborate with artists from across the creative spectrum, and give premieres by composers including Tania León, Julian Joseph, Daniel Kidane, Victoria Vita Polevá, Luís Tinoco and John Williams. Rising stars making their debuts with us in 2023/24 include conductors Tianyi Lu, Oksana Lyniv, Jonathon Heyward and Natalia Ponomarchuk, accordionist João Barradas and organist Anna Lapwood. We also present the long-awaited conclusion of Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski’s Wagner Ring Cycle, Götterdämmerung, and, as well as our titled conductors Edward Gardner and Karina Canellakis, we welcome back classical stars including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Robin Ticciati, Christian Tetzlaff and Danielle de Niese.

Pieter has performed numerous times as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Highlights have included an appearance as both conductor and soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Royal Festival Hall, the Brahms Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and the Britten Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the LPO Label to great critical acclaim. Pieter has appeared as Guest Leader with the BBC, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon and Baltimore symphony orchestras; the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

lpo.org.uk

Pieter’s chair in the LPO is generously supported by Neil Westreich.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Anja Bihlmaier conductor

Night’s Dream at Malmö Opera, and several productions at the Vienna Volksoper, including Henry Mason’s acclaimed production of The Magic Flute in 2020/21. In February 2023 she conducted Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer in Tampere, and in September Verdi’s La traviata at the Norske Opera in Oslo. This August she will conduct the LPO in performances of Carmen at the 2024 Glyndebourne Festival. © Marco Borggreve

After studying at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik with Scott Sandmeier, Anja was awarded a scholarship at the Salzburg Mozarteum and deepened her knowledge with Dennis Russell Davies and Jorge Rotter. She was subsequently accepted into the German Conductors’ Forum and received a scholarship from the Baden-Baden Brahms Society Anja Bihlmaier’s musical intuition, inspiring charisma and ability to combine passion with precision have made her one of the leading conductors of her generation. She has been Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague since August 2021. Tonight’s concert is Anja Bihlmaier’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This season she also makes debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Hamburg Staatsorchester (including two concerts at the Elbphilharmonie), Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and returns to the Salzburg Camerata for her debut at the Mozartwoche. In summer 2023 she made her first BBC Proms appearance, with the BBC Philharmonic and violin soloist Bomsori Kim in a programme of ColeridgeTaylor, Bartók and Bruch. With a wide-ranging repertoire that spans Haydn, Mahler, Strauss, Sibelius, Debussy, Dvořák, Bartók, Shostakovich, Britten, Zimmermann, Ustvolskaya and Unsuk Chin, Bihlmaier has recently conducted the SWR Symphony, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Spanish National, Barcelona Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Danish National, Swedish Radio Symphony and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras, returning to many of these in the coming months. A passionate opera conductor, Bihlmaier gained many years of experience through positions at the Hanover State Opera, the Chemnitz Theatre and the Kassel State Theatre. More recently, she has conducted Gounod’s Faust at Trondheim Opera, Britten’s A Midsummer

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Martin James Bartlett piano

Beethoven Easter and Turku Music festivals. Martin’s debut US tour in February 2022 in the Young Concert Artists Series included debut performances in New York and at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC.

An exclusive recording artist with Warner Classics, Martin James Bartlett recently released La Danse, his third album on the label and a collection of danceinspired music ranging from Rameau’s Gavotte & Doubles to Ravel’s La Valse. This follows two widely acclaimed albums on the label: Rhapsody (2022), recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Joshua Weilerstein and featuring concerti by Rachmaninoff and Gershwin, was released to critical acclaim, receiving accolades including Editor’s Choice from Gramophone and a 5-star review in BBC Music Magazine. His debut recital album, Love and Death (2019), an exploration of the elemental themes and ranging from Bach to Prokofiev, received outstanding reviews in The Times, The Guardian and The Sunday Times.

Martin James Bartlett possesses a fearless technique and plays with a maturity and elegance far beyond his years. In 2022 the British pianist was the inaugural recipient of the Prix Serdang, a Swiss prize curated by Rudolf Buchbinder in recognition of the achievements of a promising young pianist forging an international solo career. Martin made his London Philharmonic Orchestra debut in March 2022, when he performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in concerts in Brighton and Eastbourne with conductor Holly Mathieson.

Martin James Bartlett’s early public success was as the winner of BBC Young Musician in 2014. This led to engagements with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra and, in 2015, his BBC Proms debut performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. For Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th birthday he performed at the National Service of Thanksgiving, which was broadcast live on BBC One from St Paul’s Cathedral.

Highlights of Martin James Bartlett’s 2023/24 season include debuts with the European Union Youth Orchestra under Manfred Honeck at the Grafenegg Festival; with the Stockholm Philharmonic under JukkaPekka Saraste at the Merano Festival; and with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under Jonathan Bloxham. This season he also returns to the Royal Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony orchestras.

In 2020 Martin was announced as the winner of the Virtu(al)oso Global Piano Competition by Piano Cleveland. In 2018 he was awarded second prize and the Audience Award at the Kissingen Piano Olympiad. In 2021 he was awarded The Queen Mother Rosebowl by HRH Prince Charles, and graduated with a first-class Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree and Artist’s Diploma from the Royal College of Music, having studied under Professor Vanessa Latarche. From 2020–22 he was the RCM Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow, and he made his play-direct and conducting debut with the London Mozart Players at the Cheltenham and Ryedale festivals in 2022, leading works by Pärt, Mozart and Britten. In 2019 Martin was awarded first place at the 2019 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York.

Recent concerto highlights include a UK tour with the Sinfonia of London under the baton of John Wilson, and a European tour with the LGT Young Soloists, performing Philip Glass’s ‘Tirol’ Piano Concerto at the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Vienna Musikverein and the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, culminating in a gala performance for the Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein in London. Past seasons have seen Martin James Bartlett in recital at the Wigmore Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Royal Concertgebouw, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Salle Cortot Paris, Stadtcasino Basel, Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron, and the Rheingau Musik, International Chopin Piano, Dresden Music, Ludwig van

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Programme notes Richard Wagner 1813–83

Overture, The Flying Dutchman 1841

Portrayals of the sea are comparatively rare in German music – hardly surprising since many German-speaking composers in the 18th and 19th centuries had little or no direct experience of it. The same was true of the young Richard Wagner; but then in 1839 he had to make a hurried exit from the Latvian city of Riga, where he had been working as conductor, with – as so often in his career – a bunch of angry creditors at his heels. After a tense nocturnal diversion through Russia, Wagner, his wife Minna and their Newfoundland dog were secretly put on board a boat for London. But the boat hit a storm and had to make a detour into a Norwegian fjord. Frightening though the experience must have been, Wagner soon saw its artistic potential. He’d already been thinking of an opera based on the legendary figure of an accursed mariner, doomed to sail the seas until an act of selfless love would redeem him. The Norwegian fjord and the sea-storm gave him the setting and the atmosphere, both of which are established vividly in the opera’s Overture. Against a stabbing fifth on high wind and shimmering high strings, horns call out the motif associated with the doomed Dutchman, while surging lower string figures evoke the swell of an angry sea. A lull in the storm leads to a ‘Redemption’ theme on winds, introduced by cor anglais, predicting the love of Senta, the young Norwegian woman who will sacrifice herself to save the Dutchman. Despite such lyrical passages, the Overture sustains its momentum right through to its closing bars, where Wagner anticipates the opera’s final ecstatic transformation of the Redemption theme as Senta and the Dutchman rise heavenwards in each other’s arms.

Richard Wagner

Programme note © Stephen Johnson

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Programme notes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–91

Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466 1785 Martin James Bartlett piano

1 Allegro 2 Romanze 3 Rondo: Allegro assai The decade that Mozart spent in Vienna from 1781 until his death was when he truly found his own voice as a composer, and nowhere is this new maturity and individuality better shown than in his piano concertos of the period. Altogether he wrote 17 of them while in the Imperial capital, mostly for himself to play at the public and private concerts that helped provide him with financial support, and as such they were the works with which he was most closely associated by his audiences. More importantly, it was with them that he established the piano concerto for the first time as a sophisticated means of personal expression rather than a vehicle for polite public display.

One can well imagine the impression the piece made on the composer’s home town; there can be few clearer demonstrations of how far he had left Salzburg behind. D minor is a relatively unusual key for Mozart, and therefore a significant one. Later he would use it both for Don Giovanni’s damnation scene and for his Requiem, and there is something of the same grim familiarity with the dark side – a glimpse of the grave, perhaps – in the first movement of this Concerto. The opening orchestral section contrasts brooding menace with outbursts of passion, presenting along the way most of the melodic material that will serve the rest of the movement. Even so, it is with a new theme, lyrical but searching and restless, that the piano enters; this is quickly brushed aside by the orchestra, but the soloist does not give it up easily, later using it to lead the orchestra through several different keys in the central development section. The movement ends sombrely, pianissimo.

The high point in the series came with the five concertos composed in the period of just over a year from the beginning of 1785. Tonight’s work, K466 – completed and first performed in February 1785 – is chronologically at the head of this group, but musically speaking it also stands out in many ways. The composer’s father Leopold, visiting Vienna at the time, heard the premiere, and a little over a year later was organising a performance by a local pianist back in Salzburg. He later described the occasion in a letter to his daughter:

The slow second movement, in B flat major, is entitled ‘Romance’, a vague term used in Mozart’s day to suggest something of a song-like quality. In fact this is a rondo, in which three appearances of the soloist’s artless opening theme are separated by differing episodes, the first a drawn-out melody for the piano floating aristocratically over gently throbbing support from the strings, and the second a stormy minor-key eruption of piano triplets, shadowed all the way by sustained woodwind chords. Continued overleaf

‘Marchand played it from the score, and [Michael, brother of Joseph] Haydn turned over the pages for him, and at the same time had the pleasure of seeing with what art it is composed, how delightfully the parts are interwoven and what a difficult concerto it is.’

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Programme notes Storminess returns in the finale, though this time one senses that it is of a more theatrical kind than in the first movement. It is another rondo, and although the main theme is fiery and angular, much happens in the course of the movement to lighten the mood, culminating after the cadenza in a turn to D major for the Concerto’s final

pages. A purely conventional ‘happy ending’ to send the audience away smiling? Perhaps so, but the gentle debunking indulged in by the horns and trumpets just before the end suggests that Mozart knew exactly what he was doing. Programme note © Lindsay Kemp

Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827

Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 1812

1 Poco sostenuto – Vivace 2 Allegretto 3 Presto 4 Allegro con brio Four years separate Beethoven’s Sixth and Seventh symphonies, four years in which Beethoven’s health went into steep decline. Over the course of six months between 1811 and 1812 he was twice ordered by doctors to spend time at a spa in the Bohemian town of Teplitz to help him recover from a spate of illness. His diaries from this time convey his despondency and heartache, even admitting to thoughts of suicide. Where then, did Beethoven find the sunny demeanour that characterises

his Seventh Symphony? Brisk, joyous and radiating warmth, it is one of Beethoven’s most carefree symphonic works, a symphony that Richard Wagner would later call ‘the apotheosis of the dance herself’. Beethoven, for his part, referred to it as his ‘Grand Symphony in A’, adding in a letter to the impresario Johann Peter Salomon that he considered it ‘one of my best works’. And ‘grand’ is certainly a fitting description.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Programme notes The introduction to the opening Vivace is longer than any symphonic introduction ever composed before. It takes Beethoven nearly four suspense-laden minutes to reach the Vivace, by which time the last thing we are expecting is the ebullient romp that follows.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works by Laurie Watt

But it is the solemn Allegretto that has become the Symphony’s calling-card. Although it is not ‘slow’ in the traditional sense (Allegretto meaning ‘fairly brisk’), the Allegretto is the de facto slow movement in an otherwise spirited symphony. Muted both in tone and dynamics, this rather sombre series of variations upon a repetitive, walking theme has been compared to a funeral procession – and for good reason. Just as the first movement was carried along by its propulsive rhythmic accompaniment, repetition abounds here too, but here the ‘long-short-short long-long’ ostinato has quite the opposite effect. Every time it seems to get going, we stall once more, as though the procession were inching forwards only to stop, take stock, and set off again. Only when Beethoven begins to spin out long, languorous countermelodies does the procession find its momentum and a remarkable grandeur emerges out of this rather unassuming theme, only to peter out and sidle off into the distance once more.

Wagner: Overture, The Flying Dutchman London Philharmonic Orchestra | Mark Elder (Classics for Pleasure) Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 Martha Argerich | Orchestra Mozart | Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon) Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 Vienna Philharmonic | Carlos Kleiber (Deutsche Grammophon)

We’d love to hear from you We hope you enjoyed tonight’s concert. Could you spare a few moments to complete a short survey about your experience? Your feedback is invaluable to us and will help to shape our future plans.

There is nothing unassuming, however, about the scherzo that follows. Composed in F major, that same errant key that made its first appearance in the expansive introduction, the third movement is a whirlwind of tossed-out melodic fragments and sudden dynamic contrasts, relaxing only briefly in the more measured, rustic trio sections – which again recall elements of the composer’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony. And then, with little more than a couple of punchy chords to pull us back to the home key, Beethoven launches headlong into the finale, a wild, unbound Allegro that Tchaikovsky called ‘a whole series of images, full of unrestrained joy, full of bliss and pleasure of life’. While the conductor Thomas Beecham was rather less kind (‘What can you do with it? It’s like a lot of yaks jumping about’), there is no denying its physicality. Joy spills over into raucousness, the gloom of the Allegretto long forgotten, as the finale hurtles along with an earthy, unrestrained energy that flirts with dance but borders on bedlam.

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Programme note © Jo Kirkbride

Next LPO concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall FRANK PETER ZIMMERMANN PLAYS ELGAR Saturday 3 February 2024 | 7.30pm Elgar Violin Concerto R Schumann Symphony No. 2 Edward Gardner conductor Frank Peter Zimmermann violin

OKSANA LYNIV CONDUCTS DVOŘÁK Friday 9 February 2024 | 7.30pm

Janáček Suite, The Cunning Little Vixen Victoria Vita Polevá The Bell - Symphony No. 4 for Violoncello and Orchestra (UK premiere)* Dvořák Symphony No. 8 Oksana Lyniv conductor Inbal Segev cello *Co-commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Dallas Symphony Orchestra

COLOUR AND FANTASY Friday 16 February 2024 | 7.30pm

Stravinsky Scherzo fantastique Francisco Coll Ciudad sin Sueño (Fantasia for piano and orchestra)* (world premiere) de Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain Stravinsky The Firebird Suite (1919 version) Gustavo Gimeno conductor Javier Perianes piano *Co-commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía

LPO.ORG.UK

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Sound Futures donors We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures.

Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey CBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust

Welser-Möst Circle William & Alex de Winton John Ireland Charitable Trust The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich

Tennstedt Circle Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov Richard Buxton The Candide Trust Michael & Elena Kroupeev Kirby Laing Foundation Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Sir Simon Robey Bianca & Stuart Roden Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman

Solti Patrons Ageas John & Manon Antoniazzi Gabor Beyer, through BTO Management Consulting AG Jon Claydon Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne Goodman Roddy & April Gow The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Mr James R.D. Korner Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia Ladanyi-Czernin Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust

Mr Paris Natar The Rothschild Foundation Tom & Phillis Sharpe The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Dr Christopher Aldren Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Lady Jane Berrill Mr Frederick Brittenden David & Yi Yao Buckley Mr Clive Butler Gill & Garf Collins Mr John H Cook Mr Alistair Corbett Bruno De Kegel Georgy Djaparidze David Ellen Christopher Fraser OBE David & Victoria Graham Fuller Goldman Sachs International Mr Gavin Graham Moya Greene Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Tony & Susie Hayes Malcolm Herring Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mrs Philip Kan Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Rose & Dudley Leigh Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Miss Jeanette Martin Duncan Matthews KC Diana & Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Dr Karen Morton Mr Roger Phillimore Ruth Rattenbury The Reed Foundation The Rind Foundation Sir Bernard Rix David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada)

Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Marina Vaizey Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker

Pritchard Donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mrs Arlene Beare Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner Mr Conrad Blakey Dr Anthony Buckland Paul Collins Alastair Crawford Mr Derek B. Gray Mr Roger Greenwood The HA.SH Foundation Darren & Jennifer Holmes Honeymead Arts Trust Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr & Mrs David Malpas Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Christopher Querée The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer Charitable Trust Timothy Walker CBE AM Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Mr Anthony Yolland and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Thank you We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year. Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.

Artistic Director’s Circle

The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Anonymous donors Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet Aud Jebsen In memory of Mrs Rita Reay Sir Simon & Lady Robey CBE

Orchestra Circle

William & Alex de Winton Edward Gardner & Sara Övinge Patricia Haitink Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich

Principal Associates

An anonymous donor Richard Buxton Gill & Garf Collins In memory of Brenda Lyndoe Casbon In memory of Ann Marguerite Collins Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave George Ramishvili The Tsukanov Family Mr Florian Wunderlich

Associates

Mrs Irina Andreeva In memory of Len & Edna Beech Steven M. Berzin The Candide Trust John & Sam Dawson HSH Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern Stuart & Bianca Roden In memory of Hazel Amy Smith

Gold Patrons

David & Yi Buckley In memory of Allner Mavis Channing Sonja Drexler Peter & Fiona Espenhahn Mr B C Fairhall Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Virginia Gabbertas MBE Mr Roger Greenwood Malcolm Herring Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett The Viney Family Guy & Utti Whittaker

Silver Patrons

Andrew T Mills Denis & Yulia Nagy Andrew Neill Jamie Njoku-Goodwin Peter & Lucy Noble Oliver & Josie Ogg Mr Stephen Olton Simon & Lucy Owen-Johnstone Andrew & Cindy Peck Mr Roger Phillimore Mr Michael Posen Saskia Roberts John Romeo Priscylla Shaw Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Karina Varivoda Grenville & Krysia Williams Joanna Williams

Dame Colette Bowe David Burke & Valerie Graham Clive & Helena Butler Cameron & Kathryn Doley Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Dmitry & Ekaterina Gursky The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust John & Angela Kessler Mrs Elena & Mr Oleg Kolobova Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley Tom & Phillis Sharpe Mr Joe Topley & Ms Tracey Countryman Andrew & Rosemary Tusa Jenny Watson CBE Laurence Watt

Principal Supporters

Bronze Patrons

Anonymous donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mr John D Barnard Roger & Clare Barron Dr Anthony Buckland Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario Altieri Mr Alistair Corbett Guy Davies David Devons Igor & Lyuba Galkin Prof. Erol & Mrs Deniz Gelenbe In memory of Enid Gofton Alexander Greaves Prof. Emeritus John Gruzelier Michael & Christine Henry Mrs Maureen Hooft-Graafland Per Jonsson Mr Ian Kapur Ms Elena Lojevsky Dr Peter Mace Pippa Mistry-Norman Mrs Terry Neale John Nickson & Simon Rew Mr James Pickford Filippo Poli Mr Robert Ross Martin & Cheryl Southgate Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr Rodney Whittaker Christopher Williams

Anonymous donors Chris Aldren Michael Allen Mrs A Beare Mr Anthony Blaiklock Lorna & Christopher Bown Mr Bernard Bradbury Simon Burke & Rupert King Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Deborah Dolce Ms Elena Dubinets David Ellen Cristina & Malcolm Fallen Christopher Fraser OBE Mr Daniel Goldstein David & Jane Gosman Mr Gavin Graham Lord & Lady Hall Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Iain & Alicia Hasnip Eugene & Allison Hayes J Douglas Home Molly Jackson Mrs Farrah Jamal Mr & Mrs Jan Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza Mr Peter King Jamie & Julia Korner Rose & Dudley Leigh Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Drs Frank & Gek Lim Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Mr Gordon McNair

Supporters

Anonymous donors Mr Francesco Andronio Julian & Annette Armstrong Mr Philip Bathard-Smith Emily Benn Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Mr Peter Coe Mr Joshua Coger Miss Tessa Cowie Caroline Cox-Johnson Mr Simon Edelsten Will Gold Mr Stephen Goldring Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh Mr Geordie Greig Mr Peter Imhof The Jackman Family Mr David MacFarlane Paul & Suzanne McKeown Nick Merrifield Simon & Fiona Mortimore Dame Jane Newell DBE Mr David Peters Nicky Small Mr Brian Smith Mr Michael Timinis Mr & Mrs Anthony Trahar Tony & Hilary Vines Dr June Wakefield Mr John Weekes Mr Roger Woodhouse Mr C D Yates

Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd

Hon. Life Members Alfonso Aijón Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Robert Hill Keith Millar Victoria Robey CBE Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE Timothy Walker CBE AM Laurence Watt

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

Thank you

Thomas Beecham Group Members

David & Yi Buckley Gill & Garf Collins William & Alex de Winton Sonja Drexler Mr B C Fairhall The Friends of the LPO Roger Greenwood Dr Barry Grimaldi Mr & Mrs Philip Kan John & Angela Kessler Sir Simon Robey Victoria Robey CBE Bianca & Stuart Roden Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett Neil Westreich Guy & Utti Whittaker

Corporate Donor Barclays

LPO Corporate Circle Principal

Bloomberg Carter-Ruck Solicitors French Chamber of Commerce

Tutti

German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce Lazard Natixis Corporate Investment Banking Walpole

Preferred Partners Jeroboams Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Neal’s Yard OneWelbeck Sipsmith Steinway

Trusts and Foundations

Board of the American Friends of the LPO

ABO Trust The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust BlueSpark Foundation The Boltini Trust Borrows Charitable Trust Cockayne – Grants for the Arts The London Community Foundation Dunard Fund Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Foyle Foundation Garrick Charitable Trust The Golsoncott Foundation Idlewild Trust Institute Adam Mickiewicz John Coates Charitable Trust John Horniman’s Children’s Trust John Thaw Foundation Kirby Laing Foundation The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Lucille Graham Trust The Marchus Trust PRS Foundation The R K Charitable Trust The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation Rothschild Foundation Scops Arts Trust TIOC Foundation The Thriplow Charitable Trust Vaughan Williams Foundation The Victoria Wood Foundation The Viney Family

We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America: Simon Freakley Chairman Kara Boyle Jon Carter Jay Goffman Alexandra Jupin Natalie Pray MBE Damien Vanderwilt Marc Wassermann Elizabeth Winter Catherine Høgel Hon. Director Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

LPO International Board of Governors Natasha Tsukanova Co-Chair Martin Höhmann Co-Chair Mrs Irina Andreeva Steven M. Berzin Shashank Bhagat HSH Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern Aline Foriel-Destezet Irina Gofman Olivia Ma George Ramishvili Sophie Schÿler-Thierry Florian Wunderlich

and all others who wish to remain anonymous.

In-kind Sponsor Google Inc

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 27 January 2024 • Beethoven’s Seventh

London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration Board of Directors

General Administration

Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair Martin Höhmann* President Mark Vines* Vice-President Emily Benn Kate Birchall* David Burke Deborah Dolce Elena Dubinets Tanya Joseph Hugh Kluger* Katherine Leek* Minn Majoe* Tania Mazzetti* Jamie Njoku-Goodwin Andrew Tusa Neil Westreich Simon Freakley (Ex officio – Chairman of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra) *Player-Director

Elena Dubinets Artistic Director

Advisory Council Roger Barron Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass Helen Brocklebank YolanDa Brown OBE David Buckley Simon Burke Simon Callow CBE Desmond Cecil CMG Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Guillaume Descottes Cameron Doley Christopher Fraser OBE Jenny Goldie-Scot Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Marianna Hay MBE Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson DL Amanda Hill Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Geoff Mann Andrew Neill Nadya Powell Sir Bernard Rix Victoria Robey CBE Baroness Shackleton Thomas Sharpe KC Julian Simmonds Barry Smith Martin Southgate Chris Viney Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter

Education and Community Talia Lash Education and Community Director

David Burke Chief Executive Chantelle Vircavs PA to the Executive and Employee Relations Manager

Lowri Davies Education and Community Project Manager Hannah Smith Education and Community Co-ordinator

Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts and Planning Director

Claudia Clarkson Regional Partnerships Manager

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager Maddy Clarke Tours Manager Madeleine Ridout Glyndebourne and Projects Manager Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator Robert Winup Concerts and Tours Assistant

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Siân Jenkins Corporate Relations Manager

Mr Chris Aldren Honorary ENT Surgeon

Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager

Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon

Sophie Harvey Marketing Manager

Finance

Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Frances Slack Finance Director

Gavin Miller Sales and Ticketing Manager

Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager

Ruth Haines Press and PR Manager

Jean-Paul Ramotar Finance and IT Officer

Hayley Kim Residencies and Projects Marketing Manager

Professional Services

Dr Barry Grimaldi Honorary Doctor

Kath Trout Marketing and Communications Director

Felix Lo Orchestra and Auditions Manager

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager

Marketing

Benjamin Wakley Assistant Stage Manager

Philip Stuart Discographer

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors

Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate

Stephen O’Flaherty Deputy Operations Manager